Air velocity meters and indoor quality meters and monitors provide HVAC professionals with just a few of the sample tools that they need in the configuration of ventilation systems or to check the air quality of various workspaces. A number of these devices typically include a handheld device that is tethered to a handheld probe which may or may not have a telescoping portion. One example is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,788,294, entitled “Method and System for Collecting and Analyzing Environmental Data” assigned to GrayWolf Sensing, Inc. of Shelton, Conn., the teachings of which are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.
One application that can benefit from the portability of these devices is where there is a desire to minimize and/or eliminate infections acquired by patients when they go into hospitals for treatment. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 5%-10% of hospitalized patients develop a healthcare-associated infection (“HAI”), corresponding to approximately 2 million HAIs (˜100,000 deaths) each year in US hospitals. The risk of serious complications due to HAIs is particularly high for patients requiring intensive care. Reducing hospital-acquired infection rates has an estimated economic impact of more than $17 billion per year in US. Starting January 2011, hospitals are required to report hospital-acquired infection rates to Medicare. A new national awards program will recognize teams of critical care professionals, hospital units and healthcare institutions able to successfully reduce or eliminate HAIs.
The focus for prevention has been on minimizing contact-based transmission. Hence, many approaches are to assess and minimize contamination of surfaces and contamination through direct contacts. Airborne transmission is a significant factor that can cause HAIs directly and through deposition on surfaces that, in turn, contribute through contact contamination. Airborne transmission has been traditionally addressed through ventilation and filtration control.
The effectiveness of ventilation systems is directly dependent on the load. These systems are designed, in general, for an average load. However, in places such as waiting rooms load variations—number of people, type of illness, confined space—are significant. Inability of the ventilation system to respond, in real-time, to these load variations can result in HAIs. Variations in contamination level in real-time can occur in other areas in hospitals also (e.g., Operating rooms). Routine breathing by people results in the presence of particles and other similar contaminants into the environment. These, in turn, are easily inhaled by others resulting in an intake of unwanted, problematic species into their system. Undoubtedly, such situations lead to additional infections and illnesses. Admission rooms and waiting rooms of hospitals and clinics are invariably occupied by people having different types and levels of infections. Ironically, such a situation can result in patients in the waiting areas acquiring an infection or disease different from what they had wanted to be cured. There is a substantial need, especially in emerging economies, to implement infection control systems that eliminate the possibility of patients acquiring additional infections from each other without having to invest heavily in infrastructure costs in new hospital construction or the retrofitting of same with legacy air quality measuring and monitoring systems.
Another area that is challenged with data collecting and management and that use dedicated legacy systems is in the agricultural setting. Sensors and data storage devices typically are installed on farm equipment and combines in general, and more specifically at the distal ends close to the seed deposition part of the equipment. Later enhancements in these systems are difficult to retrofit due to each system being developed as a closed loop legacy system. Hence, there is a need to develop flexibility in future data collection systems having remote sensing devices.